Professor Katherine Curtis

About

Professor Kathy Curtis is the Interim Dean for the Faculty of Health, Science, Social Care and Education. Kathy is an accomplished educator, researcher and academic leader.

Kathy joined Kingston University in 2018 as the Associate Dean External Engagement and Professor of Professional Development.  Prior to this, Kathy held senior academic, leadership and faculty executive positions in two other universities, including Head of the large School of Nursing and Health Sciences at Bournemouth University providing a diverse range of nursing and medical programmes and Head of Health Professional Preparation Programmes at the University of Surrey.

Since joining Kingston University, she has attracted many substantial external grants to undertake research and innovation in areas of healthcare and education.  Kathy has been actively involved in implementation of Town House Strategy for Kingston University, co-leading the workstream developing Knowledge Exchange and Research Institutes (KERIs). She has a broad sphere of external influence including Chair of strategic pan-London groups with key business partners and representing the UK Council of Deans of Health on the Education Assurance Group for the National Centre of Advancing Practice in NHS England.

Kathy has an extensive portfolio of pedagogic and clinical research activity with many peer-reviewed publications in the fields of professional development, co-design for leadership of ethical and compassionate practice, digital innovations within care settings, and professional socialisation. Her research has had significant impact on professional practice and policy in healthcare; such as personal recognition as an expert advisor in Lord Willis (2015) Raising the Bar, Shape of Caring Report. She is currently supervising several PhD and Ed.D students and have had 6 students successfully complete their doctoral studies in the last 5 years.  She provides internal and external Chair and Examiner activity for Doctoral Vivas.  

Academic responsibilities

Interim Dean

Qualifications

  • PhD
  • MSc Behavioural Biology and Healthcare
  • PG Diploma in Education
  • BSc Psychology and Social Biology
  • Registered General Nurse
  • Intensive Care Nurse
  • Higher Education Academy Senior Fellow
  • National Certificate in Workplace Mediation

Teaching and learning

I teach on the Doctor of Education (Ed.D), Modules:

  • Education Professionals as Knowledgeable Doers
  • Knowledge and Practice in Educational Settings

I also supervise Ed.D and PhD students.

Postgraduate courses taught

Research

My research grants and publications are within the areas of healthcare professional education and practice development.  My PhD identified the antecedents to socialisation in compassionate practice among student nurses in 2008, at a time when 'compassion' was just emerging as a key descriptor for health professional behaviour within the NHS Constitution and PSRB codes of conduct.  My most recent grants, journal publications and conference presentations focus on the care of older people, such as cultivating compassion within multi-professional groups and across multiple organisations, and co-design for enabling engagement with digital health technology in challenging care environments. 

I have attracted substantial external research funding over the last 5 years as well as Health Education England workforce development funding for scoping new roles, curricula, and practice education strategy.  I currently supervise PhD and Ed.D students and have supported 6 doctoral students to successful completions in the last 5 years.  I have a network of national and international research collaborators such as within the British Society of Gerontology Care Homes Research SIG and I am on the Scientific Committees for two prestigious conferences NETNEP and NET/AdvanceHE.

Research student supervision

Main supervision

Other supervision

Publications

Number of items: 43.

Article

Hurley, Gemma, Curtis, Katherine and Hammond, John (2022) Hermeneutic phenomenological research on how nurse educators make meaning of compassion and understand its role in their professional practice. Nurse Education Today, 119, p. 105588. ISSN (print) 0260-6917

Sala Defilippis, T., Curtis, K. and Gallagher, A. (2020) Moral resilience through harmonised connectedness in intensive care nursing : a grounded theory study. Intensive and Critical Care Nursing, 57, p. 102785. ISSN (print) 0964-3397

Curtis, Katherine and Brooks, Sheila (2020) Digital health technology : factors affecting implementation in nursing homes. Nursing Older People, 32(2), pp. 14-21. ISSN (print) 1472-0795

Sala Defilippis, Tiziana M. L., Curtis, Katherine and Gallagher, Ann (2019) Conceptualising moral resilience for nursing practice. Nursing Inquiry, 26(3), e12291. ISSN (print) 1320-7881

Tee, Stephen and Curtis, Kathy (2018) Academic misconduct : helping students retain their moral compass. Nurse Education Today, 61, pp. 153-154. ISSN (print) 0260-6917

Allan, Helen Therese, Magnusson, Carin, Evans, Karen, Horton, Khim, Curtis, Kathy, Ball, Elaine and Johnson, Martin (2018) Putting knowledge to work in clinical practice : understanding experiences of preceptorship as outcomes of interconnected domains of learning. Journal of Clinical Nursing, 27(1-2), pp. 123-131. ISSN (print) 0962-1067

Curtis, Katherine and Price, Kyle (2017) Factors that influence older people's engagement with digital health technology. Nursing Older People, 29(10), pp. 27-30. ISSN (print) 1472-0795

Ramage, Charlotte, Curtis, Kathy, Glynn, Angela, Montgomery, Julia, Hoover, Elona, Leng, Jane, Martin, Claire, Theodosius, Catherine and Gallagher, Ann (2017) Developing and using a toolkit for cultivating compassion in healthcare : an appreciative inquiry approach. International Journal of Practice Based Learning in Health and Social Care, 5(1), pp. 42-64. ISSN (online) 2051-6223

Gallagher, Ann, Curtis, Katherine, Dunn, Michael and Baillie, Lesley (2017) Realising dignity in care home practice : an action research project. International Journal of Older People Nursing, 12(2), e12128. ISSN (print) 1748-3735

Curtis, Katherine, Gallagher, Ann, Ramage, Charlotte, Montgomery, Julia, Martin, Claire, Leng, Jane, Theodoisus, Catherine, Glynn, Angela, Anderson, John and Wrigley, Martha (2017) Using Appreciative Inquiry to develop, implement and evaluate a multi-organisation 'Cultivating Compassion' programme for health professionals and support staff. Journal of Research in Nursing, 22(1), pp. 150-165. ISSN (print) 1744-9871

Curtis, Katherine (2017) Using iterative cycles of discovery within a Glasarian grounded theory of socialisation in compassion. SAGE Research Methods Cases,

Allan, Helen T., Magnusson, Carin, Evans, Karen, Ball, Elaine, Westwood, Sue, Curtis, Kathy, Horton, Khim and Johnson, Martin (2016) Delegation and supervision of healthcare assistants’ work in the daily management of uncertainty and the unexpected in clinical practice : invisible learning among newly qualified nurses. Nursing Inquiry, 23(4), pp. 377-385. ISSN (print) 1320-7881

Kinchin, I.M., Alpay, E., Curtis, K., Franklin, J., Rivers, C. and Winstone, N.E. (2016) Charting the elements of pedagogic frailty. Education Research, 58(1), pp. 1-23. ISSN (print) 0013-1881

Curtis, Katherine (2015) Compassionate care : the student nurse perspective. Nursing and Residential Care, 17(11), pp. 641-642. ISSN (print) 1465-9301

Allan, Helen Therese, Magnusson, Carin, Horton, Khim, Evans, Karen, Ball, Elaine, Curtis, Kathy and Johnson, Martin (2015) People, liminal spaces and experience : understanding recontextualisation of knowledge for newly qualified nurses. Nurse Education Today, 35(2), pp. 78-83. ISSN (print) 0260-6917

Curtis, Katherine (2015) Compassion is an essential component of good nursing care and can be conveyed through the smallest actions. Evidence-Based Nursing, 18(3), p. 95. ISSN (print) 1367-6539

Johnson, Martin, Magnusson, Carin, Allan, Helen, Evans, Karen, Ball, Elaine, Horton, Khim, Curtis, Kathy and Westwood, Sue (2015) 'Doing the writing' and 'working in parallel' : how 'distal nursing' affects delegation and supervision in the emerging role of the newly qualified nurse. Nurse Education Today, 35(2), pp. 29-33. ISSN (print) 0260-6917

Curtis, Katherine (2014) Learning the requirements for compassionate practice : student vulnerability and courage. Nursing Ethics, 21(2), pp. 210-223. ISSN (print) 0969-7330

Curtis, Katherine (2013) 21st century challenges faced by nursing faculty in educating for compassionate practice : embodied interpretation of phenomenological data. Nurse Education Today, 33(7), pp. 746-750. ISSN (print) 0260-6917

Curtis, Katherine, Horton, Khim and Smith, Pam (2012) Student nurse socialisation in compassionate practice : a grounded theory study. Nurse Education Today, 32(7), pp. 790-795. ISSN (print) 0260-6917

Book

Curtis, Katherine (2015) Socialisation in compassionate practice. Saarbrucken, Germany : Scholars' Press. 348p. ISBN 9783639769517

Book Section

Tee, Stephen and Curtis, Kathy (2020) Designing for quality experiences and outcomes. In: Hall, Carol , Gobbi, Mary , Whitcomb, Kathryn and Yoder-Wise, Patricia, (eds.) Sage handbook of nursing education. Sage. (In Press)

Curtis, Katherine (2018) Socialisation in compassionate practice : the student nurse experience. In: Prendergast, Mary and Brophy, Michael, (eds.) Sharing compassion : a fortuitous journey of illumination. Dublin, Ireland : Rainsford Press. pp. 131-144.

Conference or Workshop Item

Buckley, Aga, Calestani, Melania and Curtis, Katherine (2023) When Heidegger meets Freire. In: JSWEC 2023: Social Work Education, Research and Practice in Turbulent Times; 15-16 Jun 2023, Glasgow, U.K..

Hurley, Gemma, Hammond, John and Curtis, Katherine (2022) Hermeneutic phenomenological research on how nurse educators make meaning of compassion and understand its role in their professional practice in an HEI in the UK. In: NETNEP 2022 : 8th International Nurse Education Conference : from education to impact : transforming nursing and midwifery education; 19-22 Oct 2022, Sitges, Spain.. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Katherine (2022) Developing professional leadership for innovation and improvement in nursing home care : the LAUNCH project. In: NETNEP 2022 : 8th International Nurse Education Conference : from education to impact : transforming nursing and midwifery education; 19-22 Oct 2022, Sitges, Spain.. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Katherine and Brooks, Sheila (2019) The LAUNCH Project : enabling practice and leadership development for digital health technology innovation. In: NET2019 Conference; 03-05 Sep 2019, Keele, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Katherine and Brooks, Sheila (2019) Enabling engagement with Digital Health Technology (DHT) in nursing home communities : using appreciative inquiry methodology to create a nurse leadership strategy to launch, sustain and transform care through DHT. In: British Society of Gerontology 48th Annual Conference : Resilience and Living Well in Local Communities; 10-12 Jul 2019, Liverpool, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Paglioni, Marta, Curtis, Katherine, Branney, Jonny and Valentine, Janine (2018) A mixed methods investigation into the impact of ICCI (Intentional Compassionate Communication Interventions) for older people in A&E. In: Humanising Care, Health and Wellbeing; 21-22 Jun 2018, Bournemouth, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Curtis, K. and Martin, C. (2018) Using appreciative inquiry to support and develop nursing leadership and co-create an innovative online CPD toolkit for cultivating compassion. In: NETNEP 2018 : 7th International Nurse Education Conference; 06-09 May 2018, Banff, Canada. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Katherine (2017) The context of healthcare education in 2017 - the future professional. In: Mentorship Conference 2017 : “The Changing Face of Healthcare Education : What Does This Mean For You”; 20 Nov 2017, Salisbury, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Katherine (2017) Context of healthcare education 2017 – the future professional. In: Mentorship Conference 2017 : Changing Face of Healthcare Education; 01 Nov 2017, Yeovil. U.K.. (Unpublished)

Sala Defilippis, Tiziana ML, Gallagher, Ann and Curtis, Katherine (2017) The process of re-harmonising connectedness as an ethical challenging experience. In: 18th Nursing Ethics Conference and 3rd International Ethics in Care Conference : “Present and Future Challenges and Opportunities for Ethics in Nursing and Care”; 15-16 Sep 2017, Leuven, Belgium. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Kathy (2017) The changing UK nursing workforce : supporting the successful introduction of new roles and apprenticeship education. In: Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing, Phi Mu Chapter : Business Meeting and Scholarly Presentations; 23 Feb 2017, Bournemouth, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Katherine (2016) Compassionate practice : personal expectation, professional duty & real world challenges. In: 8th International Cashel Conference : Spirituality and the Law as Compassionate Forces in Healthcare; 07 Nov 2016, Cashel, Ireland. (Unpublished)

Sala Defilippis, Tiziana ML, Gallagher, Ann and Curtis, Katherine (2016) Moral resilience among intensive care nurses in Switzerland : a grounded theory study. In: 17th International Nursing Ethics Conference, 2nd International Ethics in Care Conference and V Workshop on Health and Human Rights : 'Ethics and Human Rights in Health Care'; 14-15 Sep 2016, Sao Paulo, Brazil. (Unpublished)

Sala, T, Gallagher, A and Curtis, K (2016) Happiness, eudaimonia and moral resilience. In: Economics, Health and Happiness; 14-16 Jan 2016, Lugano, Switzerland. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Katherine (2015) ENACT : Empowering nurses to provide ethical leadership in care homes. In: 1st International ICE Observatory and 16th Nursing Ethics Conference : The Future of Ethics in Care; 17-18 Jul 2015, Guildford, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Defilippis, Tiziana, Gallagher, Ann and Curtis, Katherine (2015) Conceptualising moral resilience. In: 1st International ICE Observatory and 16th Nursing Ethics Conference : The Future of Ethics in Care; 17-18 Jul 2015, Guildford, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Katherine (2014) Delegation as a newly qualified nurse : early findings from an intervention study. In: RCN International Nursing Research Conference 2014; 02-04 Apr 2014, Glasgow, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Curtis, K (2012) Nursing's got talent : nurturing students' intentions to provide compassionate care. In: NETNEP 2012 : 4th International Nurse Education Conference : Changing the Landscape for Nursing and Healthcare Education; 17-20 Jun 2012, Baltimore, U.S.A.. (Unpublished)

Curtis, Kathy, Horton, Khim and Smith, Pam (2011) The student experience of socialisation in compassionate care. In: NET2011 : 22nd International Networking for Education in Healthcare Conference; 06-08 Sep 2011, Cambridge, U.K.. (Unpublished)

Other

Curtis, Katherine [Contributor] (2015) Additional colleagues who have contributed their expertise and advice : Raising the bar : shape of caring : a review of the future education and training of registered nurses and care assistants. The Shape of Caring Review, Lord Willis of Knaresborough,. Health Education England.

This list was generated on Wed Sep 13 07:12:40 2023 BST.

Business, knowledge transfer and international

I am the Chair of London Higher Healthcare Education Group (LHEG) and London Representative at the Council of Deans of Health.  I set up the London Placements Strategic Oversight Group (PSOG) with Health Education England, London Region, to manage the safety and quality within student practice education during the pandemic and have subsequently transferred this group into a sustainable sub-group within the Pan-London Education Alliance so the work can progress post-pandemic. I represent the Council of Deans of Health at the National Centre for Advancing Practice Education Assurance Group. I am an Ofsted Inspector for Further Education and Skills, such as health and social care apprenticeships, and am also an appointed Governor of St Georges University Hospitals NHS Trust.

I am regularly invited to speak on topics of professional development.  For example, a public talk organised as an Upgrade Masterclass by KU Alumni on 12th May 2021 (see: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jns4mNU31tI ), titled: Compassion and Self-Care in the Caring Professions. I was a panellist and the Chair of the event, with fellow panellists being: Dr Hazel McLaughlin who is a Chartered Psychologist, Chartered Scientist and Past President of The British Psychological Society (President, 2020-21). Hazel is also the Founder and Managing Director of MorphSmart Limited, working with businesses, teams and with individual leaders to enable change and transformation. John Godden MBE who is the CEO of Salutem, a leading UK residential healthcare provider specialising in education and support for disabled people and those living with learning disabilities and complex needs. Valentine Nweze (MSW Social Work, 2011) who is the Interim Head of Service, Adult Mental Health Social Care working with an integrated Adult Mental Health service for the London Borough of Croydon and South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust. 

Professional practice, knowledge exchange and impact

I have been invited to speak about professional issues with local business on a number of occasions.  For example, a public facing event titled: The Future of Aging and Care Services.  It demonstrated how business and KU work together to develop research and innovation, and was hosted by KU Business Engagement on 1st June 2020.

Watch 'Kingston University - "The Future of Ageing and Care Services event "' | Microsoft Stream (https://web.microsoftstream.com/video/d8d7a15b-b7cf-4e12-bc3a-3661ec465427)

I am frequently invited to judge and present professional practice related awards, such as judging 'University Educator of the Year' for the Student Nursing Times Awards.